The need to form a common front will outweigh disagreements on issues such as GMOs, said the former Secretary of Economy and current advisor to the Mexican presidential candidate, Xóchitl Gálvez.
The review of the Mexico, United States, Canada Agreement (T-MEC) in 2026 will focus on adjustments aimed at positioning the North American region vis-à-vis China, said Ildefonso Guajardo, former minister of economy and responsible for most of the negotiation of the agreement from the Mexican side.
“The real underlying problem for the revision of 26 is neither rules of origin nor transgenics. The problem for the 26th is called China,” said the economist during his participation in an event organized by the Americas Society/Council of the Americas.
The United States has had a trade war with China since 2018, the year in which President Donald Trump's government decreed the first tariffs on imports of a wide variety of products from the Asian country, with the idea of reducing a growing trade deficit.
More recently, President Biden's administration has expressed its refusal to allow a range of Chinese products to enter the US market, such as electric vehicles or technological products, citing risks to national security.
Given this, Ildefonso Guajardo emphasized that China is a trading partner of Mexico, but deep down, it is a competitor, so the country must prioritize its integration with the United States.
The former Secretary of Economy, who today serves as coordinator of international issues for presidential candidate Xóchitl Gálvez, warned about the need for Mexico to maintain coordination with Washington to address issues that are of interest to the security of the region.
And he exemplified with the tender that was made in this six-year period for the purchase of X-ray systems for the system of movement of goods at customs.
He reported that the current government was on the verge of granting the contract to a Chinese company, which did not happen, in the end, because it was not seen well by the US government.
“They were already going to hire the Chinese and Washington said 'where are they going? Do you think I am going to accept devices at the limit of my border that may have the capacity to transmit information?' “Under no circumstances!” he commented.
The position on the Chinese issue, he said, should already be clear to the Mexican government, as he recalled that just last December the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, Janet Yellen, discussed it in her meeting with officials from the Ministry of the Treasury, in Mexico.
There, he said, they began to “raise the terms of an agreement to discriminate against (Chinese) investments.”
